About Me

I was a reporter and columnist for 40 years for a chain of newspapers in the suburbs of Chicago. I'm a military veteran having served in the United States Army Combat Engineers (Cpl. E-4) and a Korean War veteran with an Honorable Discharge from the Armed Forces of the United States of America

Sunday, December 14, 2008

This video report of the shoe throwing incident at President Bush in Baghdad today gives more details of the incident including how White House Press Secretary Dana Perrino suffered a black eye when she was hit by a microphone in the melee.WATCH VIDEO HERE:http://www.youtube.com/v/duLds-TZMGw&hl=en&fs=1CLICK ON ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

As you might expect, FOX NEWS had to put their own unique "spin" on the incident in Baghdad today when an Iraqi journalist tossed his size 10 shoes at President Bush and called him "a dog."Greg Jarrett of FOX NEWS suggests if Saddam Hussein were still in power the journalist would be put to death. Sorry, Greg, but he would have been given a medal by Saddam Hussein.WATCH FOXNEWS VIDEO HERE:http://www.youtube.com/v/dmt2_wyDKJI&hl=en&fs=1CLICK ON ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

President Bush visited Baghdad on Sunday and received a surprise as an Iraqi journalist tossed his size 10 shoes at Bush during a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.Bush ducked the shoes toss and the reporter was hauled away by security guards.WATCH VIDEO HERE OF THE SHOES THROWN AT PRESIDENT BUSH:http://www.youtube.com/v/IHS0P7aZZ4o&hl=en&fs=1CLICK ON ARROW TO PLAY VIDEO

BAGHDAD – His legacy forever linked to an unpopular war, President George W. Bush visited Iraq under intense security Sunday and declared that a long, hard conflict is necessary to protect the United States and give Iraqis hope. "The war is not over," he said.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081214/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

Bush got a size-10 reminder of the fervent opposition to his policies when a man threw two shoes at him — one after another — during a news conference with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "This is the end!" shouted the man, later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt.

Bush ducked both throws. Neither leader was hit. In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt; Iraqis whacked a statue of Saddam Hussein with their shoes after U.S. marines toppled it to the ground in 2003.

"All I can report," Bush joked of the incident, "is a size 10."

The U.S. president visited the Iraqi capital just 37 days before he hands the war off to President-elect Barack Obama, who has pledged to end it. The president wanted to highlight a drop in violence in a nation still riven by ethnic strife and to celebrate a recent U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.

"There is still more work to be done," Bush said after his meeting with al-Maliki, adding that the agreement puts Iraq on solid footing. "The war is not over."

In many ways, the unannounced trip was a victory lap without a clear victory. Nearly 150,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq fighting a war that is intensely disliked across the globe. More than 4,209 members of the U.S. military have died in the conflict, which has cost U.S. taxpayers $576 billion since it began five years and nine months ago.

Polls show most Americans believe the U.S. erred in invading Iraq in 2003. Bush ordered the nation into war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq while citing intelligence claiming the Mideast nation harbored weapons of mass destruction. The weapons were never found, the intelligence was discredited, Bush's credibility with U.S. voters plummeted and Saddam was captured and executed.